Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Brass Bottle Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 30, 2021

Harry Keller's "The Brass Bottle" (1964) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include exclusive audio commentary by critic Lee Gambin featuring an interview with Barbara Eden as well as vintage trailer. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Put yourself in Tony Randall’s shoes and imagine that you were the one that released the genie (Burl Ives) from the big brass bottle. What is the first thing you do? Test the genie to see whether it is as capable as it claims? Then what? What would be your first wish? Do you ask the genie to do something for you or your family? Or do you request something for your country? There are endless possibilities, correct? On top of this, there is no limit on your wishes -- whatever it is that you want, the genie will make it happen.

My first wish would be perfect health for my family and myself, with immortality attached to it. It should be doable. If the genie has spent centuries inside the brass bottle, as it tells Randall, it seems logical to assume that it knows how immortality works. I would want to get this particular wish off my list right away, just in case the genie changes its mind, or suffers some sort of an odd malfunction that permanently terminates its ability to grant wishes. Now that would be awful, wouldn’t it? A broken genie that can’t be fixed. It would be like winning the lottery in Venezuela -- today you are a millionaire, tomorrow you are back at the trash cans because overnight the rampant inflation has made your precious millions worthless. Now that I have ensured my perfect health and immortality, what do I ask for next? Material possessions? Money? Spectacular career? How about a curve ball? I am going to put the genie to the test and see if it can use its magic to make the in-laws genuinely like me? If the genie delivers, it is authentic, as it claims. If it does not, well, it ought to be a knock-off, in which case my decision to request perfect health and immortality first makes even more sense.

Believe it or not, some of the options I have highlighted above are the exact same options Randall ponders as well, but in the wrong order. His biggest mistake, at least in my opinion, is his decision to earn the love of his future in-laws, who very clearly dislike him and appear convinced that he isn’t worthy of their daughter (Barbara Eden). It is Randall’s top priority, which of course seems very odd, and the very reason why even the genie urges him to reconsider it. By the way, Randall’s future wife does not appear terribly disappointed by her parents’ supposedly honest evaluation of her future husband, which makes Randall’s thought process even stranger. Please the in-laws first, erase his future wife’s doubts that he is in fact The Perfect One, and then arrange the most beautiful wedding ever to make their union official. Even a centuries-old genie can see that Randall’s plan has some serious flaws, which is why after it initially tries to please him in every way possible chooses a new strategy.

Some of the funniest sequences in this mostly quite silly film come right after the genie begins to emerge as the more rational character. In one of them the genie turns an outspoken critic into a donkey. Also, an exotic beauty (Kamala Devi) that has been summoned to please the overwhelmed bachelor accidentally discovers that in the twentieth century it might be okay not to follow the genie’s orders. There are a few very good sequences where Randall struggles to explain the presence of the genie as well.

But the screenplay’s emphasis on the tension between Randall and his future in-laws takes too much valuable space that could have been used to make the film a lot more exciting. Even some of the interactions between Randall and the transformed genie feel very repetitive because both begin rehashing the same contrasting ideas. Finally, it is quite disappointing that Pasadena remains just a tiny detail throughout the entire film.

The Brass Bottle Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Brass Bottle arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The film can look quite good at times, with well-lit sequences typically producing the most pleasing visuals. However, the more you pay attention to smaller details, the clearer it becomes that there is room for various meaningful improvements. For example, delineation and depth can be quite a bit better, so you will easily notice that finer nuances tend to struggle a lot. A combination of weak grain and crushed blacks can reveal some pretty odd anomalies that further collapse native detail as well (see the black jackets in screencapture #12 and 13). Density levels can be improved as well, though this will occur naturally if the grain structure is proper. The good news is that the master that was used to produce this release does not reveal traces of compromising digital corrections, so the the visuals do not appear harsh, boosted, or smeary. Also, despite the crushing issues, the overall color balance is quite nice. Again, there are just various small nuances and highlights that are not as convincing as they need to be. Image stability is good. All in all, I would describe the current technical presentation of The Brass Bottle as decent, at times even good, but ideally the entire film can and should look more convincing on Blu-ray. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The Brass Bottle Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The lossless track sounded very good on my system. Admittedly, the original soundtrack does not have any material that can produce serious dynamic contrasts, but the basics, like clarity and sharpness, I thought were very good. Perhaps there is a bit of room for minor rebalancing work in the upper register where a few times the sound became a tad thin, but this would be a minor cosmetic adjustment. There are no encoding anomalies to report.

The Brass Bottle Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - a vintage trailer for The Brass Bottle. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Commentary - this commentary was recorded by critic Lee Gambin. It features an exclusive audio interview with actress Barbara Eden, who discusses her contribution to The Brass Bottle and interactions with director Harry Keller and other cast members.

The Brass Bottle Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It feels like this is the perfect time of the year to see The Brass Bottle, a charming little film that reimagines the old tale about Aladdin and his magic lamp. However, even though Tony Randall and Burl Ives' banter is quite good, I think that the film could and should have been a lot more exciting, perhaps even provocative in some unexpected ways. As it is, it seems too safe and repetitive, from time to time even a bit too silly. Kino Lorber's Blu-ray release is sourced from an older but mostly decent master that was supplied by Universal Pictures. RECOMMENDED.